- #1
bmrick
- 44
- 0
So, technically I'm a physics major. However as of late I've been experienceing a growing appreciation for the engineer, and particular, the engineer mindset. My question for you all is how can someone develop the engineer mindset? Does one simply just start building things like levers and pulleys, water screws, etc.?
My plan right now is to find simple things that I want to build and try and build them. After successfully (or unsuccessfully) accomplishing this goal, I want to go online and find resources for how I could have more efficiently completed my goal. I'm thinking it might be beneficial also to begin studying the history of engineering and the ingeneous devices that have been used over the years, eventually working my way up to the devices that can be thought of as a crux of modern engineering.
I'm just not so certain if this is a skill one can develop after a certain age. I saw a model of archimedes screw today and i was blown away. From a physics standpoint, it's a relatively simple device, but I would have NEVER thought about a screws ability to raise a fluid. It seems that the mechanical engineer relies on imagining the interactions of bodies without the mathematical scrutiny applied by a physicsist, and this in many ways frees up their mind to process more complicated or more imaginative mechanical interactions, do you think that is a fair assumption? Do you think that this is a skill that can be developed later in age?
My plan right now is to find simple things that I want to build and try and build them. After successfully (or unsuccessfully) accomplishing this goal, I want to go online and find resources for how I could have more efficiently completed my goal. I'm thinking it might be beneficial also to begin studying the history of engineering and the ingeneous devices that have been used over the years, eventually working my way up to the devices that can be thought of as a crux of modern engineering.
I'm just not so certain if this is a skill one can develop after a certain age. I saw a model of archimedes screw today and i was blown away. From a physics standpoint, it's a relatively simple device, but I would have NEVER thought about a screws ability to raise a fluid. It seems that the mechanical engineer relies on imagining the interactions of bodies without the mathematical scrutiny applied by a physicsist, and this in many ways frees up their mind to process more complicated or more imaginative mechanical interactions, do you think that is a fair assumption? Do you think that this is a skill that can be developed later in age?